How do you shake off a dark mood?

Sometimes it happens, your energetic and cheery outlook turns dark and foreboding like storm clouds heading your way.  What do you do?  Is there a psychic umbrella to ward off the lashing winds?  Maybe.  I call it my study and I hole up in there typing and surfing until the barometric pressure settles.  Mindless games on my iPhone or watching reruns of NCIS also works.

I got out a sketchbook yesterday that I ran across while I was cleaning the basement.  A friend gave it to me in 1997 for my birthday.  Wow, I couldn't believe I still had it.  I hadn't drawn or written anything in it for six years, but last night, in the same sort of dark mood, I took it out, collected several black pens and markers and doodled for three pages.  Kind of mindless, kind of artistic, but definitely calming and productive.  I probably won't post pictures of my creations (because then you can analyze my craziness!), but the simple act of letting go some of that tension and letting it roll out of my hands onto paper was calming.

I think art and crafts has that kind of calming effect on me where I focus my tension and anxiety and create something out of it.  Beats the hell out of the alternatives.